Bumper pool is a pocket billiards game of skill played with pool cues on an octagonal or rectangular elevated table fitted with an array of fixed cushioned obstacles, called bumpers, at the center of its surface. The table is elevated such that the players stand on a ground surface next to the table while playing. A pool cue is an elongated hand-held stick or rod that tapers toward tip at one end for striking a pool ball as the cue is axially translated into the ball by a user. A bumper pool table has two pockets, placed opposite one another, located at the center of two of the rails. Most bumper pool tables have twelve bumpers, although some tables have fourteen or sixteen. Two bumpers typically flank each pocket, and the remaining bumpers are arranged in a cross in the center of the table, with one line of the cross in line with the pockets. At the center of the cross, there is an open space just large enough to allow a ball to pass through. Bumper pool tables with fourteen bumpers commonly have three rather than two bumpers on each side of the center space on the line midway between the two holes.
A bumper pool game is typically played with a cue stick used by a player to strike 5 red or 5 white balls, with one marked ball in each set. At the start of play, each set of balls is typically arranged on five spots near each edge of the table by a pocket with the marked ball placed directly in front of the pocket. An object of the game is for a player to sink all of their balls into their pocket via the cue stick at the opposite end of the table. The game's rules require that a player's marked ball must be sunk before the player can sink any other balls. Unlike most other billiard games, there is no designated cue ball: each ball can be shot into the specified pocket.
To begin a game of bumper pool, both players typically putt their marked ball simultaneously via a cue stick, banking the ball off the cushion to their right and attempting to sink their ball in their pocket at the other end of the table. If both players sink their first shot, they each select another ball, place it in front of their opponent's pocket, and repeat the simultaneous shot. If both players successfully sink all five of their balls in this fashion the game ends in a draw. If, on the initial simultaneous shot, one player fails to sink his or her marked ball in the pocket, the player who successfully sank a ball or who came closest to his or her own pocket shoots next. A player's turn continues until he or she fails to sink a ball.
Miniature golf and other putting games are games of skill that are enjoyed by children and adults alike. Putting games typically have a defined tee-off area (i.e. the designated starting point) that is separate from a putting surface and a cup positioned therein at a distance from the tee-off area into which a player attempts to roll or “putt” a golf ball with a golf putting club (or “putter”). A putter is hand-held golf club with a relatively short, stiff shaft and a relatively flat head used in a swinging motion to strike the golf ball and cause the ball to roll along the ground/putting surface. The tee-off area, putting surface and cup are positioned on/in a ground surface, and the user walks and stands on the tee-off area or putting surface during each stroke of the putter to hit his or her ball toward the cup.
The object of putting games is to putt their ball into the cup while using as few strokes as possible. Putting games usually challenge the putting skill of the players by the employment of elaborate contour and distractions fixed in or movable into the golfer's putting line between the tee-off area and the cup.
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